Blending Into Gray

Chapter 25

"Like hell I missed you," Roman growled, leaving out that he had, actually, missed his father at one point.

His father chuckled, then coughed, and I had to applaud that we did at least do some damage to him.

His right hand was bloody, bleeding all over the place again. His nose was slashed, and some of the cartilage seemed to be missing.

Then I understood what the noise had been when he was a lion - he couldn't breathe out of his nose. His blood had been pouring into his mouth, choking him.

Granted, it was still pouring into his mouth, but he seemed to be able to better handle it as a human.

It wasn't much, even though we were trying our hardest.

But what did we expect? We couldn't kill him. We weren't strong enough. We hadn't ever even been in a real fight before, so what were we thinking?

"Why are you doing this?"

I glanced to Roman, who had determination on his face. He wanted to at least know why his father was doing what he did. That was fair.

Last time he didn't answer.

This time, it seemed hubris had gotten the best of him, because he just laughed.

"Roman, there's so much you don't know about this world."

"That's because you never taught me," he retorted.

Geoff's eyes flashed, and he seemed to almost bare his teeth.

"Well, that was your parents' fault."

Ouch. He's not even acknowledging it anymore.

Roman seemed to shake it off as best he could, and replied to him.

"Then why? What don't I know?"

Geoffrey sighed, as if talking to a petulant child, and spoke begrudgingly. His emotions were impatient, yet gloating.

"You see, here, in this world, there are people that are good, and people that are bad. People that have never done anything wrong, and people who will. People who deserve to live," he glanced at me, "and people who don't."

Wow, alright.

Roman growled, but kept his mouth shut as Geoff continued.

"Good and evil are as natural as light and dark. But here's the thing: there shouldn't be any dark."

Pardon?

"Evil is relative, you see? Anyone who has ever done anything wrong could be a danger to this city. Especially the Villain. After all, it was always stated that the Villain was the counterpart to the Hero. And if the Hero is supposed to keep the peace and keep everything in order for the prospect of good, that can only mean that the Villain is, thereby, evil."

That logic wasn't entirely unfounded. I was shocked. But still -

"That's biased! It should be based on a person-to-person basis, what if they aren't bad?"

Geoff chuckled darkly.

"Don't you see? They're all evil, even this one," he spat at me. "I'm only trying to ensure that any of that evil doesn't affect the city, so I'm wiping it all out for good before that happens."

Both of us were silent for a moment.

I could feel Geoff's resolve, his belief that he was doing what needed to be done in order to save the city.

Maybe it was ridiculous, but it had been founded from a good place. And that's what made it so dangerous.

"You're sick!"